Institute of Economic Research carefully optimistic about 2017
According to the Estonian Institute of Economic Research (EKI), the situation of the Estonian economy remained more or less the same throughout 2016, with slower economic growth than had been expected.
EKI’s experts see the reason for this in the generally slower growth worldwide, as well as in continuing geopolitical problems, which have kept affecting demand in the markets of Estonia’s main trading partners.
In the fourth quarter of 2016, what had been positive was that private consumption had increased, inflation had remained low, participation in the labour market had increased slightly, and salaries had grown.
On EKI’s indicator, the Estonian economy stood at 5.2 points in December, 0.2 points better than after the institute’s analysis in September 2016. If its experts, 11% assessed the current state of the economy as good, 84% said it was satisfactory, and 5% thought it was in bad shape.
Low investment was stressed to be the one continuing disappointment, though the situation had improved slightly compared to earlier analyses.
While the institute had been optimistic about 2016, the actual developments had been “insufficient”, its experts stated. The stagnation of external demand as well as general insecurity across markets was quoted as the main reason.
EKI’s outlook for the coming six months is “optimistic”, at 5.8 points indicating a slight increase.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn